Attempted Hack Targeted DNC Voter Database Through a Fake Login Page

The phony page was meant to capture login information and passwords, though party officials do not believe it was successful.

by Leonard Greene, New York Daily News
/
August 23, 2018

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(TNS) — The Democratic National Committee may have been the victim of a sophisticated attempt to hack its voter database, and contacted the FBI to investigate, according to a report.

A cloud service provider notified the DNC early Tuesday morning that a fake login page was created to gather usernames and passwords that would allow access to a database, a source told CNN.

The phony page was designed to look like the access page party officials and campaigns across the country use to log into a service called Votebuilder, which hosts the database, the report said. DNC officials believed the plan was to trick people into sharing their login details.

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The page was very convincing, but officials do not think the hack was successful.

"These threats are serious and that's why it's critical that we all work together, but we can't do this alone,” The DNC’s Chief Security Officer Bob Lord said in a statement to CNN.

“We need the (Trump) administration to take more aggressive steps to protect our voting systems. It is their responsibility to protect our democracy from these types of attacks."

A day earlier, Microsoft said it thwarted newly-attempted cyberattacks by Russian hackers targeting U.S. political campaigns before the midterm elections.

“Attackers want their attacks to look as realistic as possible and they therefore create websites and URLs that look like sites their targeted victims would expect to receive email from or visit,”. Microsoft president Brad Smith wrote. The sites involved in last week’s order fit this description. We’re concerned that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections.”

While Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied his country played any role in the 2016 campaign that resulted in President Trump’s victory, U.S. intelligence agencies have reported that Moscow did try to help Trump's campaign effort.

A special prosecutor as well as congressional committees are investigating whether the Russian government coordinated with Trump associates during the campaign.